Pole Position is a 1984animated cartoon series produced by DIC Audiovisuel. The name Pole Position was used under license from Namco, who held the rights to the name due to the video gamePole Position. The show sought to capitalize on the popularity of the video game. However, there is nothing in common between the game and the show other than the car designated "Wheels" being colored red as in Pole Position and the car designated "Roadie" being colored blue as in Pole Position II.
Overview
Pole Position ran for 13 episodes on CBS in 1984 as part of its Saturday morning children's programming line-up. The show later returned in reruns for a few months in 1986, followed by a run onThe Family Channel in the late 1980s through the early 1990s. It was shown in the United Kingdom during the 1980s in the CBBC strand and repeated in the early 1990s on Saturday mornings as part of Going Live on BBC1. The show features the Darretts, a family of stunt-driving crime fighters, who investigated and thwarted wrongdoing while operating under the front of a traveling show known as "Pole Position Stunt Show", which was sponsored by the United States government in order to give cover for their investigative activity and provide maintenance for the high-demand vehicles. The Darretts had two adult children and a third child who was much younger in age. A road accident ended the life of the parents, and the father's younger brother, known as Uncle Zack, took charge of the stunt show. He said that now that the patriarch and his wife were dead, it was incumbent upon the two adult children, Tess and Dan, to continue their parents' dangerous and proud work. The vehicles feature numerous hidden gadgets like water skis and hover jets. The vehicles' computers themselves are portable and can be removed from the dashboards and carried around using handles—thus they are often referred to as "the modules". The modules are characters appearing as talking computer-drawn faces displayed on video screens.
Characters
Tess Darrett – Tess is the older sister of Dan and Daisy and the de facto leader of the group who drives Wheels. Tess is voiced by Lisa Lindgren.
Dan Darrett – Tess' hot-headed younger brother who drives Roadie. Dan is voiced by David Coburn.
Daisy Darrett – The younger pre-teen sister of Dan and Tess. Daisy is voiced by Kaleena Kiff.
Dr. Zachary Darrett – A wheelchair-using engineer and uncle of the Darrett kids. He runs the Pole Position operation and is responsible for the development of the vehicles. He is voiced by Jack Angel.
Kuma – Daisy's pet, Kuma is a genetic creation and is a strange cross between a raccoon and a monkey. Kuma is voiced by Marilyn Schreffler.
Wheels – a red and black 1965 Ford Mustang driven by Tess. Wheels' AI computer is more careful than his counterpart Roadie and frequently says he's "getting too old for this" when part of a mission becomes most pivotal. Wheels is voiced by Melvin Franklin.
Roadie – a more futuristic-looking light-blue coupe driven by Dan. Roadie's AI computer is very smart and typically tries to keep Dan out of trouble. Roadie is voiced by Darryl Hickman.
On April 21, 2008, Brightspark Productions released a 4-disc box set containing all 13 complete episodes of the series on DVD in the UK. Mill Creek Entertainment released 10 of the 13 episodes of the series in a combo pack with 10 episodes of C.O.P.S.and 10 episodes of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors on January 10, 2012. On October 16, 2012, Mill Creek released TV Toons To Go, a 10-disc compilation of various cartoons owned by Cookie Jar, now by DHX Media, and the 10th disc of that set contains the remaining 3 episodes of Pole Position that weren't included on the combo pack DVD set.
